Barcode iPhone App Month Review: BeerCloud by Greatbrewers.com
BeerCloud powered by Greatbrewers.com
Price: Free | Link to App Store | Tested on iPhone 3G
BeerCloud helps you pair beer with food, track down favorite beers in your neighborhood, and pull up a full description of any beer with a scan of its barcode.
I stumbled upon the BeerCloud app during a search for “barcode” in the App Store only to discover after download that it was a semantic inclusion. Technically, it utilizes barcodes. You can search by barcode— barcode number, that is. When they say search by barcode they mean search by typing in the UPC code. There is no barcode scanner on this app and considering the context of this article, that is simply unacceptable. Furthermore, I entered in 6 beer UPCs and not one turned up in the database. Additionally, the app's Beerfinder function does not work here in Florida where I live.
The description in the app store is as follows:
Whether you're a beer consumer who could use some guidance in making a well-educated purchase, a food lover looking to discover new ways to enhance a meal with a complementary beer pairing, a beer student hoping to learn more about styles, or a traveling beer enthusiast who wants to instantly map the closest stores, bars, and restaurants carrying one of your favorite beers, BeerCloud is an essential iPhone app.
My experience with the app was that it didn't do what was promised. I was hoping for a tool, and what I got was more of a tome. If you want help selecting a beer to go with your beef burrito, the app has lots of good suggestions. And you can search rather effectively by name for a full description. If you are a beer-fanatic the app promises hours of entertainment, I can imagine browsing though it on a bus like you would a magazine or pulling it out before you go to the store to choose a unique pale ale to complement a tilapia dish.
In a vacuum the BeerCloud app is pretty cool. If I hadn't read the description or expected it to have a barcode scanner, I wouldn't have been letdown. Just another case of over-promising and under-delivering— a practice I don't recommend for business, apps or personal ads. I'm just going to keep an eye out for updates, I'm sure one will include a barcode scanner.
Also available on Android (with a barcode scanner and lots more features).
Visit our Mobile Barcode Apps Link page for a list of barcode apps you might like.
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